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Eight Grisly Facts That Will Make You Need the World Eaters Release

In August there was a leak on the site Bolter and Chainsword which laid out a long list of potential releases for 2022. A lot of it seemed wild and far fetched at the time, but the pieces seem to be falling together to make at least some of it true. What we’re going to talk about today are the World Eaters, but let’s first take a look at that list of leaks.

Bolter and Chainsword Leaks

BOLTERANDCHAINSAW LEAK:

‘Heard third-hand from the same person that provided me with this rumour; to be digested with the usual pinch of salt.

In January 2022, we will get:

T’au:

Codex with reworked plastic Darkstrider

After January 2022, we will get (in no as-of-yet defined order):

CSM:

Plenty of new kits for 9th Edition.

Regular Possessed, Bikers, Chosen, Warpsmith, Cultists (BSF-style), Renegade Guard (BSF-style), human mutants, possessed humans (the latter two are monstrously horrible. Think of the Greater Possessed but cranked up to 11), cultist standard bearer (character), cultist character with bodyguards.

Chaos Knights:

New Knight variant with Codex

Craftworld Eldar:

A massive, but incomplete, update of Eldar

Without a specific date but in the pipeline:

Squats

World Eaters

Daemons

Astra Militarum with veteran-style Cadians. Two new regiments are also in the works. New Kasrkin and new vehicle, designed to fit between the Leman Russ and the Baneblade.’

Eight Grisly Facts That Will Make You Need the World Eaters Release

#1. The World Eaters Are Devoted to Khorne, The Blood God, Who Is Different From the Other Chaos Gods

The World Eaters are devoted to Khorne, and Khorne–in Warhammer 40k–is different from Khorne in the other games.

Khorne is the god of battle, the god of war, the epitome of the cry “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!” And he started his Games Workshop presence in Warhammer Fantasy. As a Chaos God in the Warhammer universe, Khorne is the personification of emotion. He is made of rage and anger and violence.

But while in Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar he has nebulous beginnings, in Warhammer 40k Khorne burst into existence in the Terran Middle Ages. The Warp, or Immaterium, is made up of psychic energy. In essence, there was so much rage and hatred and gore and blood during the Middle Ages that Khorne was manifested into existence. He is the oldest of the four Chaos gods.

This has always been intriguing because it raises the question of the Chaos gods’ connection to humans: we know that there was a lot of war in the universe before the Middle Ages. For example, the War in Heaven, sixty million years before, was ripe with blood and death, but Khorne did not manifest himself then.

(The connection between Khorne and the Middle Ages could be coincidental, but it doesn’t appear to be, which makes it odd then that we know another god, Slaanesh, was manifested into existence by the Aeldari.)

#2. The World Eaters Followed in The Footsteps of Their Primarch, Angron in Brutality

It should surprise no one that Angron would be devoted to Khorne or that the Space Marines that are descended from Angron’s gene-seed would be bloodthirsty and terrifying.

Even as a child, Angron was a horrifying warrior. When the Primarchs were scattered as young children–even babies–we know that Angron was found on his planet wounded and surrounded by countless bodies of corpses (some say they were Aeldari) who had tried to kill him.

He was raised somewhat as prominence and somewhat as a gladiator. Again, as a child, Angron was once put into a pit with a pyramid or ziggurat in the middle of it, along with hundreds of other slaves. The pit was filled with acid, meaning that only the person standing on the very top of the ziggurat would survive. And survive he did, by killing all the rest in a grotesque game of King of the Mountain.

When the Emperor finally came to get Angron, Angron refused to go with him, to the Emperor’s surprise and dismay. Angron’s eventual situation taking his place beside his father would be against his will, and something that he would never forgive.

But Angron’s brutality was only amplified by what was put into his body: the Butcher’s Nails.

#3. The World Eaters Are Corrupted With “Butcher’s Nails”

As a gladiator, Angron was implanted with archaeotech neural implants which were literally hammered into the skull like nails over the course of seven hours of “surgery”.

Angron would later implant Butcher’s Nails into his own Space Marine Legion, the World Eaters. The effect of the Butcher’s Nails is to cause aggression, boost the flow of adrenaline and to cause so much pain to the body that the only way to relieve the pain is through the pleasure of carrying out gruesome acts of brutality.

Angron had his Apothecarion implant the Butcher’s Nails in every World Eater, even when he was “good” (or at least loyal to the Emperor). At that time, the Space Marines who received the implants thought of them as a good thing that made them better fighters, not understanding that they were designed as a curse for gladiators.

There is reason to think that the World Eaters knew the problems with the Butcher’s Nails–as well as understanding their corrupting influence on Angron–but underwent the surgery anyway and intentionally because they wanted to forge themselves in the same fires that Angron had been forged.

Librarians who had been implanted with the Butcher’s Nails all died–they literally spontaneously combusted. Angron told his Librarians that they could have the Butcher’s Nails removed or be executed, but everyone knew the truth–that removing them would kill them, too. Still, the Librarians tried to have the implants removed, and all of them died.

#4. As Brutal As World Eaters Are, Khorne Berzerkers Are Even More So

Berzerkers are Chaos Space Marines who are free from all restrictions and given full reign to carry out any murder or destruction they desire–and they really desire. With the cry of “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!” the Khorne Berzerkers are as frightening to the World Eaters as they are to the enemy. Once Berzerkers start spilling blood, they will not stop until sated, and they are never sated.

Khorne Berkerkers are not 100% devoted to the World Eaters however. They can work with any Chaos Space Marine army, and Abaddon in particular has made use of them in the Black Legion, even getting Berzerker surgeons to perform the Butcher’s Nails surgery himself and create his own without needing the World Eaters at all.

#5. Angron Ascended Into Daemonhood

During the Horus Heresy, the World Eaters and the Word Bearers arrived at Nuveria, Angron’s homeworld, only to find that the Nucerian slavers had killed Angron’s former friends. Enraged, Angron ordered the two Legions to completely annihilate the population of the planet, and the corrupted Space Marines went on a rampage.

Robute Guilliman arrived and dueled against Angron, and Angron beat him but was unable to kill him before Guilliman was rescued by Ultramarine comrades. Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers, used the opportunity to perform a Chaos ritual and Angron was transformed from Space Marine and Primarch into a Daemon Prince.

As a Daemon Prince, Angron weilds a massive black runesword named the Black Blade.

Once free to be fully Khornate incarnate, Angron went on a killing spree across the galaxy.

#6. The Greatest Mortal Champion of Khorne is Kharn the Betrayer

Before the Horus Heresy, Kharn act as the voice of reason for the World Eaters, calming Angron down and helping him to restrain himself when necessary. But the restraint was not to last. After having the surgery to increase his aggression, he had a kill counter installed in the lens of his helmet (a kill counter that was a gift from Horus, no less).

Kharn was thought to have died in the Siege of Terra, and the World Eaters absconded with his corpse only to find that Kharn–though impaled through the chest–still lived. It is believed that it is by the blessing of Khorne that Kharn survived, and ever since Kharn has devoted himself to slaughter.

Kharn fights with a giant chainaxe called Gorechild (Gorefather was a chainaxe wielded by Angron during the Horus Heresy).

#7. Kharn’s Murderous Fury Led to Fragmentation of the World Eaters

After the Heresy, at the Battle of Skalathrax the World Eaters fought against another Chaos Space Marine Legion, the Emperor’s Children on a planet of ice. At night, the World Eaters sought shelter from the freezing storms and halted the battle, and Kharn was so enraged by the end of the killing and the cowardice of his fellows that he turned a flamer on them, then unleashed Gorechild.

Ever since, the World Eaters have been a fragmented Legion. Some of them joined the Emperor’s Children, and others formed small bands and fled. All of the captains had been killed, and ther was no leader.

Still, these smaller bands–and Kharn among them–roam the galaxy in the name of Khorne and seek blood and skulls.

#8. It Is Thought That Angron May Return

With the anticipated return of the World Eaters (given the leak and rumors mentioned above) it is thought that Angron may return both in the lore and on the tabletop as a Daemonprince, similar to Mortarion and Magnus.

Angron’s presence was known at Armageddon and there his Black Blade was destroyed by the psychic blast of a Grey Knight. He was banished back into the Warp and that was the last that was seen of him, though he is known to still live.